Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post - How do you handle people who don't take you seriously?

Rockchick26 · 08-13-2009, 10:58 PM

Specifically this situation:
Have you ever had a bunch of things that you were interested in and wanted to try but never did and then suddenly you made a plan to do them, and your friends/family reacted by laughing at you and saying "Why would you wanna do that, that isn't like you at all!" or "You've never been interested in that, why suddenly now!?" And they act like you're a wierdo for wanting to try these things.

I've been reading this book that is changing my life and naturally I've been excited about it so I'm telling everyone about all the stuff I'm gonna do, and none of them are taking me seriously. They either roll their eyes and politely keep quiet or they protest and say "Oh that would be stupid, you aren't the kind of person who would do something like that!" Well how would they KNOW if i've always kept it inside?

And the same thing happens when they find out something about me and they're shocked and they're like "You're like that!? I didnt know that!" or "I can't believe that came out of your mouth!". How do you react when people react this way? It's like they want me to be a certain way and if I'm not then suddenly I'm pretending to be someone else, but really this IS me, they just don't want it to be! It really bothers me that everyone that knows me sees me this way when inside I really am different than what they think.

How do you deal with people like this!? It's hard to live a fullfilling life when EVERYONE in your life isn't supporting you and doesn't want to see you explore new things. Or in the 2nd example, it's hard to be yourself when everyone around you has always thought you were one way and they can't accept that you aren't like that.

08-13-2009, 10:58 PM	#1 (permalink)
Rockchick26 Banned Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Minnesota Posts: 3,037	How do you handle people who don't take you seriously? Specifically this situation: Have you ever had a bunch of things that you were interested in and wanted to try but never did and then suddenly you made a plan to do them, and your friends/family reacted by laughing at you and saying "Why would you wanna do that, that isn't like you at all!" or "You've never been interested in that, why suddenly now!?" And they act like you're a wierdo for wanting to try these things. I've been reading this book that is changing my life and naturally I've been excited about it so I'm telling everyone about all the stuff I'm gonna do, and none of them are taking me seriously. They either roll their eyes and politely keep quiet or they protest and say "Oh that would be stupid, you aren't the kind of person who would do something like that!" Well how would they KNOW if i've always kept it inside? And the same thing happens when they find out something about me and they're shocked and they're like "You're like that!? I didnt know that!" or "I can't believe that came out of your mouth!". How do you react when people react this way? It's like they want me to be a certain way and if I'm not then suddenly I'm pretending to be someone else, but really this IS me, they just don't want it to be! It really bothers me that everyone that knows me sees me this way when inside I really am different than what they think. How do you deal with people like this!? It's hard to live a fullfilling life when EVERYONE in your life isn't supporting you and doesn't want to see you explore new things. Or in the 2nd example, it's hard to be yourself when everyone around you has always thought you were one way and they can't accept that you aren't like that.